Food halls are also becoming a key element in
the revitalization of inner city areas and therefore
a potentially important part of urban renewal.
According to published reports, the next iteration
includes downsized projects for smaller urban areas
like Waco and Plano, Texas, Greenville, S.C., and
Raleigh, N.C.
U.S. food halls are as varied as the dishes they
serve. The West Side Market in Cleveland is
owned by the city. People buy groceries there, and
its vacancy rate fell from 40 percent in 2009 to 2
percent in 2015. No place in Philadelphia accepts
more food stamps than Reading Terminal Market,
at the heart of Center City in Philadelphia, and
Grand Central Market in Los Angeles was once
such a model of working-class diversity that it was
featured in a United States Information Agency
propaganda film to fight the impression that
America was a racist country.
Cushman & Wakefield's Brown says food halls
have evolved from a loose confederation of food
stalls in tourist areas to a tightly knit cultural
experience that includes a mix of prepared and
unprepared foods that should not be confused
with food courts. He emphasizes that the growth
in this concept will include people jumping on the
bandwagon who won't understand that a food hall
is not a glorified food court. "You have to look at
quality, authenticity and getting the right tenants."
A 'VIABLE' TREND
As with any format, there are several questions
that have yet to be answered. The first is whether
a marketing area can support projected growth
in food halls. "For now, we would argue that the
answer is yes, with some caveats," Cushman &
Wakefield's report said. "Those caveats come down
to the two issues that we see as critical to the success
of any new food hall project: quality and location.
The second is whether we are looking at something
that is a viable long- term trend or just 'trendy.'
"Our research suggests that answer is clear - a
definite trend. The intense popularity that food halls
are experiencing did not occur by chance. The rise of
food and beverage retail, the explosion of new and
unique fast casual and chef-driven startup concepts,
and the increasing restaurant rents in major cities are
among the many real estate factors that have aligned to
propel this trend.
"The need for incubator space and the relatively
cheaper overall rents that operators face when
opening concepts in food hall environments
compared to leasing independent space are all
positives when it comes to feeding future demand
for food hall space."
STORES.ORG
Top 20 U.S. Food Halls
Eataly - New York, Boston, L.A.
Ferry Building Marketplace -
San Francisco
Reading Terminal Market -
Philadelphia
Grand Central Market -
Los Angeles
Central Food Hall,
Ponce City Market - Atlanta
Pike Place Market - Seattle
Revival Food Hall - Chicago
Original Farmers Market -
Los Angeles
Union Market -
Washington, D.C.
Quincy Market - Boston
Krog Street Market - Atlanta
Union Station - Denver
Liberty Public Market -
San Diego
West Side Market - Cleveland
Latinicity - Chicago
Market House,
Nashville Farmers' Market -
Nashville
The Source - Denver
Midtown Global Market -
Minneapolis
Eastern Market -
Washington, D.C.
Market on Market -
San Francisco
Source: Cushman & Wakefield
Inevitably, the question of whether the concept
is in danger of overbuilding comes up. "We might
be nearing the saturation point in a place like
Manhattan, but in most other markets the answer is
'no,'" Brown says. "By the end of next year, Miami
will have five food halls. But they are in different
places around the city, and the one in Brickell City
Center is not going to compete with the food hall in
South Beach.
"One thing that celebrity chef-driven halls have to
worry about is holding on to their brand cache and
uniqueness if they get too big. Even if the concept gets
oversaturated it doesn't mean that all of them will
suffer. It just means that winners and losers will start
to emerge. But right now their biggest competitors are
standalone restaurants, and they are the ones that will
suffer first."
Len Lewis is a veteran journalist and author covering the retail
industry in the U.S., Canada, Europe and South America.
STORES April 2018 21